THE MAN, THE BAIT AND THE CLASSIC

How Jay Yelas Won The Classic

EDITOR'S NOTE: Thirty-six-year old Jay Yelas, of Tyler, Texas won the 2002 BASS Master's Classic in July after winning FLW Angler of the year for 2001-2002. Here, Yelas describes the tactics, both physical and mental, that he used to help him win the biggest fishing tournament in the nation.

"Winning the 2002 BASS Masters Classic was the thrill of a lifetime for me," Jay Yelas explains. "Each morning of the tournament, I would catch three or four keeper bass on the 3/8-ounce deep-diving Frenzy crankbait. However, on the last day of the Classic, I didn't catch any on the Frenzy crankbait. All the fish that day came on my Berkley Jay Yelas Power Jig. By 10 a.m. on the last day of the tournament, I didn't have any bass. But as Alabama Power Company began to generate current through Logan Martin Dam, I went to the last piece of good cover just below the dam and started fishing my jig. I fished within a quarter-mile from the dam, and my best fish were caught an hour after the dam released water.

"The key to winning the tournament was a 200-yard stretch of bank that was the last good ambush cover before you reached the dam. In this area of Lay Lake, the current ran so swiftly when water was being released that I barely could hold my trolling motor in the current. Sometimes the current was so strong that even my trolling motor wouldn't hold my boat against it. This tournament was unique because I couldn't remember the last time a major tournament was won by a contestant fishing in the tailrace. Besides the Frenzy crankbait and the Jay Yelas Power Jig, my Motor Guide trolling motor was a critical ingredient to getting my boat into position to cast my lures into the spot where the bass were holding."

To learn more about the Jay Yelas Power Jig or the Frenzy crankbait, click here at www.purefishing.com.

TOMORROW: CLASSIC BAITS